Stock in a Hamburg, Frankfurt or Düsseldorf fulfilment centre, shipping intra-community to your EU dealers? You need a German VAT number. We file the German part: VAT returns (UStVA), ZM, annual return. No OSS needed, reviewed and signed by a licensed German Steuerberater before every filing.
The short version
Hold stock in a German 3PL and you owe German VAT from the day it lands, regardless of where your customers are. Germany has no registration threshold for foreign sellers.
Your B2B sales to EU dealers are tax-free intra-community supplies (§ 4 Nr. 1b and § 6a UStG): no German VAT charged, but each line goes on your VAT return (UStVA) and on the ZM with the dealer's EU VAT ID. Import VAT (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer) on landed inventory is reclaimed through the same return. You do not need OSS for a B2B-only stream: OSS is a B2C cross-border scheme with nothing to apply to here.
Typical timeline: 4–8 weeks from submission to Steuernummer, with the USt-IdNr. following 2–4 weeks later. Typical year-one cost via Vaytax: €1,299/year all-in, German VAT registration included.
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Three triggers, one registration, one filing covers all of them. If one of these sounds like you, registration is almost certainly mandatory.
Storing inventory in a German 3PL, fulfilment centre, or any warehouse on German soil triggers German VAT registration, regardless of where your customers are. The obligation starts the day stock lands.
Tax-free intra-community supplies (§ 4 Nr. 1b and § 6a UStG). No German VAT charged to the dealer, but each line goes on your UStVA and on the ZM with the dealer's EU VAT ID.
When your goods enter the EU through a German port or airport, Einfuhrumsatzsteuer is paid at customs and reclaimed through your VAT return as Vorsteuer.
€99/month covers the routine filing schedule below: no per-dealer fee on the ZM, no Finanzamt-correspondence add-on. Backfile months and corrections are billed separately when needed.
The most common question we get from prospects with this business model is: do I also need OSS (One-Stop-Shop)? Short answer, almost always no.
OSS is a B2C cross-border scheme. It exists to let you collect and remit VAT on consumer sales to other EU countries through a single quarterly return filed in your home country. If your entire EU revenue stream is B2B tax-free supplies to dealers, OSS has nothing to apply to.
Your German VAT registration plus ongoing filing covers your full German obligation. Your home-country accountant handles your local corporate filings as they already do. Nothing additional is needed on the EU side for the B2B stream: the supply is tax-free in Germany, and your dealers self-account for it as an intra-community acquisition in their own country.
If you also sell some direct B2C alongside the B2B, then OSS may apply for the consumer portion, but it stays with your home-country accountant. Vaytax handles the German side; OSS runs in parallel with no overlap.
Deeper read: OSS vs local VAT registration in Germany → walks through exactly when each scheme applies.
Amazon FBA moves your inventory through German warehouses on Amazon's schedule, which often triggers Pan-EU VAT registration in several other countries. Pure 3PL distribution is simpler: one country (DE), your own decision to ship there, no marketplace facilitator liability rules to apply. The German compliance work itself is identical: VAT returns (UStVA), ZM, annual return.
| Amazon Pan-EU FBA | Pure 3PL distribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Where does stock move? | Across several EU countries, on Amazon's schedule | One country (DE), your own decision |
| How many registrations? | Often 6+ EU countries | One: Germany |
| Marketplace facilitator rules? | Apply (Amazon collects on some sales) | None to apply |
| German filing work | VAT returns (UStVA), ZM, annual return | VAT returns (UStVA), ZM, annual return (identical) |
The exemption only holds up if the paper trail is clean. Get these three right and you're audit-defensible.
Every dealer customer must have a valid EU VAT ID. We validate via VIES inside the filing wizard, but a check on the first order avoids invoicing errors that have to be reissued. Use our free VAT ID validator before the first invoice.
Keep CMR transport documents, arrival confirmations, or other proof that the goods physically left Germany. The Finanzamt asks for this during audit, and without it, the exemption can be reversed retroactively.
Each invoice to an EU dealer must state that it is a tax-free intra-community supply (§ 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 8 and § 14a Abs. 3 UStG) and show both your VAT ID and the dealer's, for example "Tax-free intra-community supply (steuerfreie innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung)". Most accounting tools auto-apply this when the customer is flagged as EU B2B.
Germany does not require a fiscal representative for standard VAT registration and filing; a licensed German tax advisor acting for you is enough. This applies to EU and non-EU foreign companies holding stock in Germany.
| Fiscal Representative | Tax advisor (Vaytax) | |
|---|---|---|
| Required for this use case? | No. An option under § 22a UStG, not a duty | Yes, this is the standard path |
| Takes on your VAT duties? | Yes, as its own (§ 22b UStG) | No, you remain the taxpayer |
A Vollmacht (power of attorney) to a Steuerberater is sufficient. For a full breakdown, see our fiscal representation guide. A separate fiscal-representation fee is not needed for standard German VAT compliance.
Germany routes foreign companies to a central Finanzamt by country of residence, not by where your German 3PL sits. So the office depends on where your company is established: a UK company is handled by Finanzamt Hannover-Nord, a US company by Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt, and so on. We confirm and route to the correct central Finanzamt for your country during onboarding. To look up the office for your country directly, use our Finanzamt lookup.
Once you have your Steuernummer, you file monthly or quarterly, as the tax office decides, and the rhythm is simple:
ZM frequency: monthly if your intra-community supplies exceed €50,000 in any quarter, otherwise quarterly. Either way it is included in the €99/month routine schedule, with no extra paperwork on your side beyond providing dealer details and amounts. The annual return (Umsatzsteuer-Jahreserklärung) reconciles the full calendar year and is filed under tax-advisor extension rules.
An example from our own clients, shared without the name.
A British maker of musical-instrument accessories sells business-to-business to VAT-registered dealers across the EU. Its goods ship from a fulfilment partner's warehouse in Germany. That stock is what requires the German VAT registration, and its sales to dealers in other EU countries are the tax-free intra-community supplies this page describes, reported on the VAT return (UStVA) and on the EU sales list (ZM).
Trade-fair VAT abroad: reclaiming VAT on an Italian or French trade fair is a 13th Directive refund application, a separate procedure with different deadlines and rules in each country. German VAT on German costs (Berlin hotel, Düsseldorf Messe stand) is reclaimed automatically through your VAT return (UStVA), that part is in scope.
The dashboard
You enter the figures
Totals per VAT rate, intra-community supplies and dealer VAT IDs for the ZM, in about five minutes.
Waiting on youWe review and file
We generate the VAT return (UStVA) and the ZM and file them.
In progressFiling confirmation
In the dashboard and by email.
DeliveredNo per-sale surcharge. No per-dealer ZM fee. No fiscal-rep fee. The price you see covers your routine recurring filings; one-off work like backfiling or disputes is always quoted up front.
New to German VAT · Path A
German VAT registration included. Charged in full at signup. Renews yearly.
What's included
Already registered · Path B
Already hold a German VAT number? Skip the registration fee and move straight into filing. €1,099/year if you pay annually.
Or €1,099 billed yearly. No registration fee.
Free instant English read, no signup. Then a fixed price from €200 net, nothing to pay until you accept. Estimated assessment (Schätzbescheid), payment reminder (Mahnung), formal hearing notice (Anhörung).
Not sure what you need?
Answer a few quick questions about how and where you sell. We will tell you whether Germany requires you to register, whether OSS is in scope, and what it costs, in plain English. No account, no obligation.
German VAT registration, every VAT return (UStVA) and ZM, and the annual return, handled end to end by a licensed German tax advisor. Built for foreign B2B distributors shipping from a German 3PL. Reviewed June 2026 by a licensed German tax advisor.
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